URGENT! IS THIS TOBIAS PRE-GIBSON? ONLY 39 MIN TO GO.

HELP. Seller, 2nd owner, says the Growler was made late '93 or early '94. Serial number is 5009. Has "T" on headstock. says "Tobias" immediately under battom of fretboard. IS THIS PRE-GIBSON? Owner says yes.

I think this is what you're looking for, and it looks like the seller's lying to you. For what it's worth, though, it seems (as per the website), that even though Gibson officially owned the company at that time, the original Tobias staff was still building the guitars until late 1992, and then "it was decided that in the best corporate interests, Tobias would move to Nashville. After much deliberation, no one from the original Tobias Guitars crew went to Nashville. The final LA Tobias/Gibson serial number is 2044. Despite Gibson's ownership of Tobias, all of the basses made up to 2044 were built by the my regular crew..."

the MTD website history sectionAfter several attempts to move the business to larger, better equipped facilities, I sold Tobias Guitars to Gibson on 1/1/90. The first Tobias Gibson serial number was 1094. At that point, Gibson was instrumental in moving us to a bigger shop in Burbank and setting us up with a great spray booth and dust collection system. We finally met So Cal safety codes. Basses built during 1990-1992 era were built initially by the same crew that had helped establish Tobias Basses as one of the most sought after basses on the planet. We added several people during 1990 and ended up with a great 10-man shop.

"Pre-Gibson" can mean a couple of different things. As EyeScream quoted, Tobias actually sold the company to Gibson in 1990. However, the basses continued to be built by essentially the same folks in California, headed by Michael Tobias, for a couple more years. I believe the last serial number before production left California and went to the Gibson Nashville facility was 2044--any way you figure it, basses after that are no longer "pre-Gibson".